Maybe you’re willing to take some
calculated risks in pursuit of the freedom that money (and lots of it)
can give you to make choices that can bring satisfaction, whether that
means buying your dream home, giving generously to charity or escaping
the 9-to-5 grind. In that spirit, we focus on nine faster
roads to riches, with varying levels of risk. Essential qualities for success: passion,
persistence and patience.
Start a New Business
Risk level: High
What do success stories like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They all made their mark (and their millions) by coming up with a better idea and running with it. Starting a business is a proven path to wealth, and the best way to get there is to start small and scale up -- which usually means being bought out by a larger company, selling franchises or licensing your product.
An ambitious goal is critical if you want to expand your business.
What do success stories like Henry Ford, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have in common? They all made their mark (and their millions) by coming up with a better idea and running with it. Starting a business is a proven path to wealth, and the best way to get there is to start small and scale up -- which usually means being bought out by a larger company, selling franchises or licensing your product.
An ambitious goal is critical if you want to expand your business.
Create a Product
Risk level: Medium
Creating a product and licensing it or selling it through retailers is another route to making money from your good idea.
One of the biggest mistakes that aspiring inventors make is to create a product before they’ve determined whether there’s a demand for it. Talk to potential customers in person before you develop a products.
Creating a product and licensing it or selling it through retailers is another route to making money from your good idea.
One of the biggest mistakes that aspiring inventors make is to create a product before they’ve determined whether there’s a demand for it. Talk to potential customers in person before you develop a products.
Invest Aggressively
Risk level: High
With this approach, you invest in a small number of stocks that you hope can double, triple or even quadruple in relatively short order.
Call this a shoot-the-lights-out strategy. Nobody knows for certain which stocks will surge and which will sink. But if you are hoping to achieve big gains, you’ll need to look beyond large, steady-Eddie types of companies. Small companies that are poised for rapid expansion and firms that serve emerging markets, which are growing more rapidly than developed nations, make for fertile hunting ground for potential winners.
If you go this route, you’ll need to monitor these companies carefully to determine whether to hold them or replace them with better opportunities.
With this approach, you invest in a small number of stocks that you hope can double, triple or even quadruple in relatively short order.
Call this a shoot-the-lights-out strategy. Nobody knows for certain which stocks will surge and which will sink. But if you are hoping to achieve big gains, you’ll need to look beyond large, steady-Eddie types of companies. Small companies that are poised for rapid expansion and firms that serve emerging markets, which are growing more rapidly than developed nations, make for fertile hunting ground for potential winners.
If you go this route, you’ll need to monitor these companies carefully to determine whether to hold them or replace them with better opportunities.
Flip Real Estate
Risk level: High
You can make a lot of money fixing up run-down houses and selling them for a quick profit, but you need cash to venture into this business. It’s tough to get a mortgage for a property you plan to flip, but a home-equity line of credit against your primary home is a good source of funds for first-time flippers.
Look for ugly ducklings in upscale neighborhoods where the market has picked up. Before buying a property, research recent sale prices for nearby homes to get an idea of what you can make, and find out how long the homes were on the market. Successful flippers usually sell their properties usually in 30 to 60 days.
Don’t forget to factor in the expenses you’ll incur while you’re holding the property, along with closing costs.
You can make a lot of money fixing up run-down houses and selling them for a quick profit, but you need cash to venture into this business. It’s tough to get a mortgage for a property you plan to flip, but a home-equity line of credit against your primary home is a good source of funds for first-time flippers.
Look for ugly ducklings in upscale neighborhoods where the market has picked up. Before buying a property, research recent sale prices for nearby homes to get an idea of what you can make, and find out how long the homes were on the market. Successful flippers usually sell their properties usually in 30 to 60 days.
Don’t forget to factor in the expenses you’ll incur while you’re holding the property, along with closing costs.
Become a Landlord
Risk level: Medium
The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage on a rental property is only about 4%. That means your monthly rental income should cover the mortgage, which wasn’t possible when rates were 7% or higher.
Once you’ve purchased your first property, you can use the equity to buy additional properties, typically through a cash-out refinancing. Most lenders won’t let you take out more than 80% of the equity you have in the property.
The average interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage on a rental property is only about 4%. That means your monthly rental income should cover the mortgage, which wasn’t possible when rates were 7% or higher.
Once you’ve purchased your first property, you can use the equity to buy additional properties, typically through a cash-out refinancing. Most lenders won’t let you take out more than 80% of the equity you have in the property.
Get a Hardship-Location Job
Risk level: High
If you can withstand 12-hour workdays on an oil rig in the North Sea or maintain your composure during military coups, you may be rewarded with free housing, a six-figure salary and the chance to see the world.
An entry-level workers on a rig earn more than $68,000, on average; the pay ratchets up dramatically as you gain experience, which is easy to do in an industry that believes heavily in on-the-job training, says Rigzone president Paul Caplan. Drilling positions are most lucrative, with an average salary of $126,471.
If physical labor isn’t your thing, you could get a gig with the State Department. The harsher the environment, the better the incentives: Foreign Service jobs add up to 70% of base salary for certain field positions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A bonus: Hardship posts in a remote locale afford few opportunities to spend -- so there’s not much to do with your money but watch it grow.
If you can withstand 12-hour workdays on an oil rig in the North Sea or maintain your composure during military coups, you may be rewarded with free housing, a six-figure salary and the chance to see the world.
An entry-level workers on a rig earn more than $68,000, on average; the pay ratchets up dramatically as you gain experience, which is easy to do in an industry that believes heavily in on-the-job training, says Rigzone president Paul Caplan. Drilling positions are most lucrative, with an average salary of $126,471.
If physical labor isn’t your thing, you could get a gig with the State Department. The harsher the environment, the better the incentives: Foreign Service jobs add up to 70% of base salary for certain field positions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A bonus: Hardship posts in a remote locale afford few opportunities to spend -- so there’s not much to do with your money but watch it grow.
Self-Publish a Book
Risk level: Low
Romance novelist Nyree Belleville ventured into self-publishing in 2010 after her print publisher dropped her because her books weren’t selling well. Since then, she has sold more than 1.5 million e-books and made more than $4 million.
Belleville, whose pen names are Bella Andre and Lucy Kevin, says the key to successful self-publishing is to keep readers wanting more. “I learned that if you write books that are connected and people like the books, every time you release a new book, people go back and buy all the old ones,” she says.
Other self-published authors have gotten rich using a similar formula. Amanda Hocking has sold more than a million of her self-published novels since 2010, which include a vampire series and a paranormal romance trilogy. She has signed a multi-million-dollar contract with St. Martin’s Press to publish print and electronic editions of her books.
Belleville works ten to 12 hours a day and controls every step of the process, from designing covers to managing her marketing campaigns. She also spends at least an hour a day reading about trends in publishing. “This is an industry that’s changing too quickly,” she says. “I am adapting myself to it every single day.”
Source: Kiplinger
Romance novelist Nyree Belleville ventured into self-publishing in 2010 after her print publisher dropped her because her books weren’t selling well. Since then, she has sold more than 1.5 million e-books and made more than $4 million.
Belleville, whose pen names are Bella Andre and Lucy Kevin, says the key to successful self-publishing is to keep readers wanting more. “I learned that if you write books that are connected and people like the books, every time you release a new book, people go back and buy all the old ones,” she says.
Other self-published authors have gotten rich using a similar formula. Amanda Hocking has sold more than a million of her self-published novels since 2010, which include a vampire series and a paranormal romance trilogy. She has signed a multi-million-dollar contract with St. Martin’s Press to publish print and electronic editions of her books.
Belleville works ten to 12 hours a day and controls every step of the process, from designing covers to managing her marketing campaigns. She also spends at least an hour a day reading about trends in publishing. “This is an industry that’s changing too quickly,” she says. “I am adapting myself to it every single day.”
Source: Kiplinger
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